PixeLite: A Thin and Wearable High Bandwidth Electroadhesive Haptic Array

Sylvia Tan*, Roberta L. Klatzky, Michael A. Peshkin, J. Edward Colgate

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

We present PixeLite, a novel haptic device that produces distributed lateral forces on the fingerpad. PixeLite is 0.15 mm thick, weighs 1.00 g, and consists of a 4×4 array of electroadhesive brakes ('pucks') that are each 1.5 mm in diameter and spaced 2.5 mm apart. The array is worn on the fingertip and slid across an electrically grounded countersurface. It can produce perceivable excitation up to 500 Hz. When a puck is activated at 150 V at 5 Hz, friction variation against the countersurface causes displacements of 627 $\boldsymbol{\pm }$ 59 $\boldsymbol{\mu }$m. The displacement amplitude decreases as frequency increases, and at 150 Hz is 47 $\boldsymbol{\pm }$ 6 $\boldsymbol{\mu }$m. The stiffness of the finger, however, causes a substantial amount of mechanical puck-to-puck coupling, which limits the ability of the array to create spatially localized and distributed effects. A first psychophysical experiment showed that PixeLite's sensations can be localized to an area of about 30% of the total array area. A second experiment, however, showed that exciting neighboring pucks out of phase with one another in a checkerboard pattern did not generate perceived relative motion. Instead, mechanical coupling dominates the motion, resulting in a single frequency felt by the bulk of the finger.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)555-560
Number of pages6
JournalIEEE Transactions on Haptics
Volume16
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 1 2023

Keywords

  • Soft wearable haptics
  • distributed forces
  • electroadhesion
  • lateral skin stretch
  • texture perception

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Human-Computer Interaction
  • Computer Science Applications

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